Battle of Lucka

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Battle of Lucka
Lucka-1307.jpg
Battle memorial in Lucka
Date31 May 1307
Location
Lucka, present-day Thuringia, Germany
Result Wettin victory
Belligerents
Shield and Coat of Arms of the Holy Roman Emperor (c.1200-c.1300).svg Holy Roman Empire Wappen Landkreis Meissen.svg Margraviate of Meissen
Commanders and leaders
Armoiries Habsbourg.svg Albert I of Habsburg
Hohenzollern Haus Wappen.svg Frederick IV of Hohenzollern
Coat of arms of Saxony.svg Frederick I of Wettin

The Battle of Lucka occurred on 31 May 1307 near the village of Lucka. The settlement was first mentioned in 1320, but had already existed for around 700 years before that. Lucka is located in the Altenburger Land district of Thuringia.

The battle was fought between the German king Albert I of the Habsburg dynasty and the Margrave Friedrich I of Meissen from the House of Wettin over the disputed ownership of the decedent estates left by Henry III the Illustrious, margrave of Meissen and Lusatia and Landgrave of Thuringia.

Within the disorder of the Great Interregnum after the end of the Hohenstaufen rule, Henry in 1261 had established the Margraviate of Landsberg in western Lusatia for his younger son Dietrich, however without any royal authorization. Dietrich of Landsberg himself left one son, Frederick Tuta, who also inherited the Lusatian march upon Henry's death in 1288, while his uncle Albert II the Degenerate at first retained Meissen and Thuringia. Shortly afterwards he sold Meissen to his nephew Frederick Tuta, who then had united most of the Wettin lands under his rule, but died without heirs in 1291.

Frederick I of Meissen, eldest son of Albert II, and his younger brother Dietrich IV claimed Frederick Tuta's territories, which met with opposition not only from their father Albert II but also from King Adolf of Germany, who regarded them as reverted fiefs. In 1294 Albert II sold Thuringia to King Adolf, again facing fierce protest of his sons who felt deprived of their heritage. After a feud with their father they were able to take Wettin lands including Thuringia upon King Adolf's deposition in 1298.

The long-term dispute continued under Adolf's successor King Albert I of Habsburg, who tried to get the possession of the "reverted" Wettin lands and in 1307 started a campaign against Frederick I. Their troops met at Lucka, where the royal army fought under the command of Burgrave Frederick IV of Hohenzollern, but was finally defeated. This victory guaranteed the continuation of the House of Wettin. Today, the citizens of Lucka believe that their city received its town charter as a result of this victory.


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House of Wettin German noble and royal family

The House of Wettin is a dynasty of German counts, dukes, prince-electors and kings that once ruled territories in the present-day German states of Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia. The dynasty is one of the oldest in Europe, and its origins can be traced back to the town of Wettin, Saxony-Anhalt. The Wettins gradually rose to power within the Holy Roman Empire. Members of the family became the rulers of several medieval states, starting with the Saxon Eastern March in 1030. Other states they gained were Meissen in 1089, Thuringia in 1263, and Saxony in 1423. These areas cover large parts of Central Germany as a cultural area of Germany.

Frederick I, called the Brave or the Bitten was Margrave of Meissen and Landgrave of Thuringia.

Albert II, Margrave of Meissen Margrave of Meissen

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Henry III, called Henry the Illustrious from the House of Wettin was Margrave of Meissen and last Margrave of Lusatia from 1221 until his death; from 1242 also Landgrave of Thuringia.

Margravate of Meissen Medieval margravate (965–1423)

The Margravate of Meissen was a medieval principality in the area of the modern German state of Saxony. It originally was a frontier march of the Holy Roman Empire, created out of the vast Marca Geronis in 965. Under the rule of the Wettin dynasty, the margravate finally merged with the former Duchy of Saxe-Wittenberg into the Saxon Electorate by 1423.

Frederick IV, Burgrave of Nuremberg

Frederick IV of Nuremberg (1287–1332) from the House of Hohenzollern was Burgrave of Nuremberg from 1300 to 1332. He was the younger son of Burgrave Frederick III from his second marriage with the Ascanian princess Helene of Saxony.

Saxon Eastern March

The Saxon Eastern March was a march of the Holy Roman Empire from the 10th until the 12th century. The term "eastern march" stems from the Latin term marchia Orientalis and originally could refer to either a march created on the eastern frontier of the East Frankish duchy of Saxony or another on the eastern border of the Duchy of Bavaria: the Bavarian marchia Orientalis, corresponding to later Austria.

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Theodoric I, Margrave of Lusatia

Theodoric I, a member of the House of Wettin, was Margrave of Lusatia from 1156 until his death.

The Duchy of Thuringia was an eastern frontier march of the Merovingian kingdom of Austrasia, established about 631 by King Dagobert I after his troops had been defeated by the forces of the Slavic confederation of Samo at the Battle of Wogastisburg. It was recreated in the Carolingian Empire and its dukes were appointed by the king until it was absorbed by the Saxon dukes in 908. From about 1111/12 the territory was ruled by the Landgraves of Thuringia as Princes of the Holy Roman Empire.

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Rudolf I, Duke of Saxe-Wittenberg

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Frederick Tuta, a member of the House of Wettin, was Margrave of Landsberg from 1285 and Margrave of Lusatia from 1288 until his death. He also served as regent of the Margraviate of Meissen.

Dedi III, Margrave of Lusatia

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